Quick release calender roller assembly



July 9, 1968- J. A. DIXON. JR

QUICK RELEASE CALENDER ROLLER, ASSEMBLY Filed Feb. 16 19 67 2a Que INVENTOR 2 JAMES ADmorLJB.

United States Patent 3,391,427 QUICK RELEASE CALENDER RGLLER ASSEMBLY James A. Dixon, Jr., Gastonia, N.C., assignor to Gossett Machine Works, Inc., Gastonia, N.C., a corporation of North Carolina Filed Feb. 16, 1967, Ser. No. 616,666 6 Claims. (Cl. 19-.23)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A mechanism for quickly releasing a predetermined high calender roller pressure produced by an excessively thick textile sliver strand portion as it is fed between a pair of the rollers. The excessive sliver thickness and the resulting pressure causes a sudden roller spread which, in turn, totally relieves the pressure and concurrently disengages intermeshing pinions in the roller drive to stop roller rotation.

This invention relates to fiber preparation machinery and more particularly to improvements in calender feed roller assemblies employed on coiler heads, carding engines, draw frames, conrbers and similar sliver handling apparatus.

Conventional calender feed roller assemblies for use on coiler heads (see Patent Nos. 2,656,573 and 2,876,502) are usually composed of a pair of positively driven interconnected rollers which yieldingly grip a sliver travelling therebetween, thereby permitting the passage of sliver having variable thickness along its length. Other roller assemblies, such as disclosed in Patent No. 3,216,063, further provide sliver feelers at the intake and the delivery sides of the assembly for actuating a stop motion when the sliver breaks. Although the above-mentioned prior art assemblies have generally proven satisfactory within their limited applications, such assemblies are structurally complex and space consuming and, moreover, unnecessarily affect other component parts of the associated apparatus by effecting complete stoppage rather than the rollers only. Applicant is not aware of a compact roller assembly in which the rollers are yieldingly pressed toward one another and positively interconnected by pinions which, in turn, are responsive to a predetermined excess sliver pressure for simultaneously releasing the yielding pressure and for disconnecting the pinions from one another and from the driving source, as specifically disclosed in this application.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a simple compact calender feed roller assembly which possesses the advantages of the above-mentioned prior art, in combination with mechanism disposed immediately adjacent the rollers and responsive to excess sliver pressure between the rollers for concurrently disconnecting a positive drive between the rollers and for disconnecting the positive drive from its source of power, whereby the operation of the rollers only will be alfected.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a calender roller assembly of the type described which is simple in construction, economical to manufacture, efiicient in operation, and which may be adapted for use on conventional calender roller assemblies with relative ease.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a coiler head, partially in section, showing the present invention and taken along line 1-1 in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 22 in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional detail view taken along line 3--3 in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken alongline 4-4 in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional vie-w similar to FIGURE 4, but showing the pressure rollers of the assembly in disconnected released positions, and

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6-6 in FIGURE 1, showing the parts in the disconnected released positions corresponding to those shown in FIG- URE 5, and further showing the disconnectible pinion drive between the calender rollers.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numeral 10 denotes a pedestal or column of a conventional sliver coiler having a coiler head, broadly designated by reference character 11, secured to the upper end thereof by means of a bracket 12. The coiler head 11 comprises an apertured horizontally disposed spectacle plate 13 having a tube gear 14 rotatably mounted therein, said plate being flush bottom and disposed above a removable sliver-receiving can 21.

Plate 14 has integral therewith a peripheral gear 15 which meshes with a pinion 16 fixedly secured as at 16a upon the upper end of a vertically disposed drive shaft 17. A spindle 18 extends upwardly from the central portion of gear plate 14 and along the axis of rotation of the latter, the upper end of said spindle being apertured for the reception of the upper end of a downwardly and outwardly inclined tube 19. The lower end of tube 19 communicates with an orifice 20 disposed in and eccentrically of the axis of rotation of gear plate 14. As gear plate rotates, sliver passes in a well-known manner downwardly through tube 19 and orifice 20 and into can 21 positioned therebelow.

A tube gear cover 23 is pivotally secured as at 24 to bracket 12. Similarly, a calender roller cover 25 is also pivotally secured as at 24.

A calender roller assembly, broadly indicated by reference character 26, is mounted upon cover 23 by means such as bolts 27. The assembly 26 comprises a base plate 28 having integral therewith a bearing 28a in which is rotatably mounted a shaft 29, said shaft having a calender roller 36 fixedly secured as at 30a on one of its ends and a sleeved pinion 31 loosely mounted on its opposite end (FIGURES 2 and 3). A beveled gear 32 is fixedly' secured as at 32a to the sleeve of pinion 31. The beveled gear 32 meshes with a beveled gear 35 fixedly secured as at 35a upon the upper end of drive shaft 17.

Pivotally secured to base plate 28 as at 37 is a bearing 38 in which a shaft 39 is rotatably mounted. A calender roller 40 is fixedly secured as at 40a on one end of shaft 39 and a pinion 41 is fixedly secured as at 41a on the opposite end. Pinion 41 meshes with the pinion 31 rotatably mounted upon shaft 29 and also meshes with a pinion 43 fixedly secured as at 43a to the latter shaft (FIGURES 1 and 3). By mounting gear 32, pinion 31 and pinion 43 in coaxial relationship and by causing pinion 41 to mesh with both pinions 31 and 43, a very compact train of gears is provided for driving calender rollers 30 and 40. Moreover, this compact arrangement facilitates release of the roller pressure and the disconnection of the rollers from the source of drive in a manner hereinafter described. It will be observed from FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 that the rotation of vertical drive shaft 17 will impart rotation to the calender feed rollers 40 and 30 and to their respective shafts 39 and 29 through the gears or pinions 35, 32, 31, 41 and 43 which are serially connected in the order named.

A releasable latching mechanism, broadly designated by reference character 45, is employed to releasably hold the pinion 41 in mesh with pinions 31 and 43 and to yieldingly press pivotally mounted roller as toward fixed calender roller 30. Specifically, the latching mechanism 45 comprises a link 46 having one end thereof pivotally secured as at 47 to the upper portion of pivoted bearing 38 in combination with a spring-pressed plunger or dog 48 slidably mounted upon the fixed bearing 28a and adapted to releasably engage a cam portion 46a on the free end of link 46 (FIGURE 4).

Plunger 48 has an elongated restricted portion 49 extending therefrom and slidably mounted in portion 28a of bearing 28. A nut 56 is threadably secured on the end of portion 49 and is yieldingly urged toward one face of portion 28a by a compression spring 51, said spring being disposed around portion 49 and between the plunger 48 and the opposite face of portion 28a. The free end of link 46 has a second cam surface 46b on its lower portion and slidably engaging the upper portion of fixed bearing 28a.

When calender rollers 30 and 46 are in operative position, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 4, the pinion 41 is enmeshed with pinions 41 and 43; the plunger 48 is in receded position and pressed against cam surface 46a; and the cam surface 46b is resting upon fixed bearing portion 28a. A strand of sliver (not shown) is adapted to travel downwardly through a trumpet 54 (FIGURE 2), between calender feed rollers 30 and 40, through tube 19 and orifice 20, and then into the receptacle 21.

Since the stress in spring 51 acts through plunger 48,. cam surface 46a, link 46, hearing 38, and shaft 39 to yieldingly urge roller 40 toward roller 30, the usual varia' tions in thickness along the sliver strand will cause the; calender rollers to spread and contract accordingly. If however, the sliver strand should become broken and a broken end thereof adhere to one of the rollers, the sliver thickness between the rollers will quickly build up in excess of the roller spread permitted by the spring 51. The latch mechanism 45 affords protection against breakage in such cases.

The excess roller spread caused by sliver winding around a calender roller will move the cam surface 46b to the left on bearing portion 28a (FIGURE 4) thereby lifting the free end of link 46 and its cam surface 46a to disengage the latter surface from plunger 48. The plunger 48 will then slide completely beneath surface 46a thereby permitting the pinion 41 to become unmeshed from pinions 31 and 43 concurrently with the bodily movement of latching mechanism 45 and attached bearing 38 about pivot 37 and from the position shown in FIGURE 4 to that shown in FIGURES and 6. Thus the yielding pressure which normally urges rollers 30 and 40 together will be completely released simultaneously with their disengagement from the driving source, both operations being responsive to an excess or predetermined sliver pressure between and spread of the rollers.

By manipulating nut 50 on restricted portion 49, the minimum stress in spring 51 and the corresponding extended position of plunger 48 may be varied to suit operating conditions. In FIGURES 3 and 6, it will be observed that a washer 44, preferably made of hard plastic, is provided on shaft 29 as a means for separating pinions 31 and 43.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated in the drawings and specific terms are employed in the specification in describing this embodiment. Any such specific terms, however, are used in a generic sense and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the following claims:

What is claimed is:

1. A calender roller assembly for textile slivers comprising a pair of rollers between which said slivers are adapted to travel, fixed means for mounting one of said rollers, pivoted means for mounting the other of said rollers for bodily movement inwardly toward and outwardly from said fixed roller, a link having one end pivotally secured to one of said mounting means, a spring and spring actuated means connecting the free end of said link to the other of said mounting means to thereby yieldably press said rollers toward one another, and means responsive to a predetermined pressure between the rollers for releasing said spring and spring-actuated means.

2. A calender roller assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein said releasing means comprises cam means between said fixed mounting means and said link, said cam means being responsive to the outward movement of said pivoted mounting means to disconnect said spring and spring actuated means.

3. A calender roller assembly as defined in claim 1 and further comprising means for driving said rollers, said last-named means including an axially alined pinion connected to one of said rollers, a second axially alined pinion connected to the other of said rollers and meshing with said first pinion, and a third pinion axially alined with one of the aforementioned pinions and meshing with the other of said three pinions.

4. A calender roller assembly as defined in claim 3 wherein said releasing means comprises cam means between said fixed mounting means and said link, said cam means being responsive to the outward movement of said pivoted mounting means to disconnect said spring and spring actuated means.

5. A calender roller assembly for textile slivers comprising a pair of rollers between which said slivers are adapted to travel; means for driving said rollers, said means including an axially alined pinion connected to one of said rollers, a second axially alined pinion connected to the other of said rollers and meshing with said first pinion, and a third pinion axially alined with one of the aforementioned pinions and meshing with the other of said three pinions; and means responsive to a predetermined pressure between said rollers for disconnecting said driving means.

6. A calender roller assembly for textile slivers comprising a pair of rollers between which said slivers are adapted to travel; means for driving said rollers, said means including an axially alined shaft extending from each of said rollers, a pinion fixedly mounted on one of said shafts, a second pinion fixedly mounted on the other of said shafts and meshing with said first pinion, and a third pinion loosely mounted on one of the aforementioned shafts and meshing with the other of said three pinions; and means responsive to a predetermined pres sure between said rollers for disconnecting said driving means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 572,433 12/1896 Meats et a1. l9-159 2,728,113 12/1955 Watson et al 19l59 2,799,056 7/1957 Carmichael l9.23 3,328,851 7/1967 Whitehur-st 19159 MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner. I. C. WADDEY, Assistant Examiner. 

